Topic: Road Trip Pictures - Southwestern US - Nov-Dec 2011

[FrankB]

I thought I would share a few pictures from our recent 10-day 1,600-mile road trip in the Xterra. The route was San Diego - Las Vegas, NV - St. George, UT - Zion Nat'l Park - Grand Canyon (South Rim) Nat'l Park - Scottsdale, AZ.  Along the way we stopped at Kelso and the Mojave Preserve, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park (NV), Grand Staircase/Escalante NM (UT), Glen Canyon Dam, Bedrock City (AZ), Walnut Canyon NM (AZ), Montezuma's Castle NM (AZ).  

I should start with a shot of Xterra to keep this relevant. On Morningstar Mine Road in the Mojave Preserve.





While at Hoover Dam I walked across the new Hwy 93 bridge. The deck of the roadway is about 900' above the river. You get a great view of the dam from the middle of the bridge.



The view of the bridge looking down from the top of the dam is not bad either.



Valley of Fire State Park, not too far outside of Las Vegas, is very aptly named. It sort of an island of red rocks jutting up from the otherwise brown/green desert. Even in the heavy overcast and partial rain it was still really bright.



On our way from St. George to Zion NP we took a little detour to check out a portion of an unpaved road called the Smithsonian Butte Scenic Backcountry Byway. Some great views along this road, and we only covered a very small part of it.



Zion National Park has to be one of the most amazing places I've ever seen. We spent 2 nights at the Zion Lodge inside the Park. The rates after Dec 1 are quite reasonable, and there are no crowds. It got a bit cold, but nothing serious.



We hiked up to Scout's Landing and back. The trail was steep in places, and had several icy patches towards the top.



At the end of the day heading back to the Lodge we caught a glimpse of the Moon rising over the canyon while the Sun was setting in the opposite direction.



I guess I should throw in another truck picture. Leaving Zion National Park heading east on UT 9.

[FrankB]

From Zion NP we drove east towards Kanab, then on to Page. Just outside of Kanab, in the area that is now part of Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, we took a little 13-mile unpaved detour to find the site where there was a movie set built in the 1960's that was used to film many of the classic westerns such as El Dorado. The sets were burned in an arson fire a few years back, but we did find the site of the old original town from the late-1800's as well. And, the scenery in general was great.





We crossed the Colorado River via the bridge next to Glen Canyon Dam. While there we stopped at the Visitor Center at the Dam and walked across the old steel arch bridge that carries US 89 across the river.  I figured out a way to sort of show both the bridge and the dam in one shot. Taken from the bridge.



About 5 miles south of Page, AZ on US 89 is a little parking area. From there you can walk out about 3/4 of a mile to a rather abrupt 1,000' drop off with this view.



We continued south on US 89 through the Navajo Nation towards the east entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. We stopped a few times along the way to check out the views, including this stop on the south side of Antelope Pass.



It was dark, very cold and very icy as we drove into Grand Canyon NP, so we didn't stop to take pictures. We did get to see an amazing sunset, some elk, and even a mountain lion crossing the road. We finally got to our little cabin at Bright Angel Lodge. In a great location, it was probably only 50 yards to the rim of the Canyon.



We spent the next day wandering along the rim of the Canyon and also checking out the other historical buildings like the El Tovar Hotel and the Santa Fe Train Station.





Apparently they had record cold the days we were there. There were a couple of times where we asked ourselves why we hadn't gone to Hawaii, but the spectacular views more than made up for it, and we really like road trips in the X.

[FrankB]

The western US has lots of interesting roadside attractions (otherwise known as "tourist traps"). Some of them are well worth the few dollars admission charge for the high entertainment value. Bedrock City, on AZ 64 about half-way between Grand Canyon Village and Williams, is one of those places. Heather and stopped in front of it in 1994, but did not go inside. This time we did.



We decided that the covering of snow really helped. I think it would have looked pretty ratty without the snow to cover some of it up. But, for $4 each, it was entertaining - even if much of it was closed down to lack of tourists this time of year.



Here's Barney and Betty's house.





We continued south and detoured east a bit to stop at Walnut Canyon National Monument, a small but very nice cliff-dwelling site outside of Flagsaff. The trail down to the cliff dwellings is steep, and was a bit icy in spots, but the sky was clear and bright, and the views were great.





Continuing south, we made a stop at Montezuma's Castle National Monument to check out the 5-story tall cliff dwelling there.



We spent the last 2 nights of the trip in Scottsdale, at a hotel built in 1956 in the Modernism style. While there we went to the Heard Museum to check out what has to be one of the best collections of Native American art, and also went to Desert Botanical Garden, and finally for a walk around the downtown Scottsdale Art District in the evening.










All in all it was a great trip. We saw lots of different things, and met some really interesting people along the way.

There are lots more pictures in the galleries here:

http://frankbaiamonte.smugmug.com/Travel/SW-US-Road-2011

[MaxPower]

Great write up and wonderful photos. 

[Soylent Yellow]

Awesome!

[Blackx]

Looks like a great trip!

[Goldfish]

Breathtaking photos Frank.

[Paul]

nice!

[Ghost65]

Especially liked the snow capped guard rail shot, and the cactus.  Nice narrative too, thanks for sharing Frank. 

[Bobby B.]

Very cool pics!

[slantyshanty]

WOW  Some of those pics made me dizzy!

[Oz]

sweet pix

[SoCalXTerry]

Great pics Frank.  The scenery of Southern Utah is breathtaking

[AV Xterra]

Nice Frank. Thanks.

[justin4x4]

Looks like an awesome trip, nice share!